Teaching the Global Energy Balance: A Complementary Computational and Hands-On Gamified Activity

Abstract

As the students construct their solar ovens, the instructor ensures that all ovens are of similar size, but otherwise provides minimal guidance regarding the physics; students are meant to be applying what they have learned from the model component of the activity and will later have an opportunity to revise their ovens. Despite the differences in the types of universities, student makeup, size of the courses, classroom materials, and instructional techniques, we have found that students have responded overwhelmingly positively to this interactive activity. While student evaluations have been shown to contain bias,[18] these anecdotal observations and conversations point to this activity being broadly applicable in a variety of introductory college courses in which students come from a variety of non-STEM backgrounds. Furthermore, the instructor should roam around the classroom during this interactive modeling activity to ensure that students or student pairs do not fall behind.